This site is a good source for education of all sorts.  

@Cody L. what sort of deals would you be looking to lend on?

But of course if this poses any sort of legal or ethical violation, I don't want to go there!

People think there is still no way to get caught but all of the entities mentioned above are doing all sorts of checks in follow up audits.

Yeah, this is exactly the sort of thing that the rent laws are trying to protect against.

Please let me know if you need more info to help me sort this out.  

Cut to about a year later, my brother buys a home for his family and the big-time real estate investor plan sort of fell onto the back burner.

The last one is a catch all, basically networking but all sorts of REI niches discussed.  

When you talk about "converting" a property into a rental, is there some sort of mandatory formal process for that?

@Roy N.After some reading I also came to the conclusion that unless you're credit is excellent, you will be subject to fees from 0.5-2.0%, however I feel this must be negotiable consider expected repeat business.Unfortunately there are no such live-in opportunities in 2 - 4 plexes in Vancouver at any sort of reasonable price point.